It is desirable to have a cane harvester which may cut billets of variable length. This is so because billets of a certain length may be more desirable for some purposes than others. For example, relatively shorter billets give more density to field transporters which results in faster and more efficient harvesting. Relatively longer billets are desirable because they produce the highest quality sugar due to the minimization of billet ends during transport and/or storage. On the other hand, specific length billets may be required for use in the correct operation of billet planters. Different weather conditions may also dictate the most desirable billet length.
This variable billet length feature is presently provided in harvesters by changing the gearing or using variable capacity motors. Changing gears is unnecessarily time consuming and providing variable capacity motors is expensive.